The Push, Pull and Distance
by Apples200
Summary: A little story I have been thinking of for a while now. I hope you enjoy! Disclaimer: I do not own Hart of Dixie
1. Chapter 1

**So this story is kinda something I've been thinking about for a while. It can change themes but for now it's based on Zoe in New York during the summer and Wade back home. This story does not contain any of the spoilers we've gotten so really its as if I'm picking up just as the season ended. I don't know how long it will be depending on feedback and stuff! Anyway I really hope you like it and let me know what you thought! Thanks (:**

….

Resting her shoulder against the frame of the door Zoe stared out the window in front of her, the big long glass panel opened the corridor right out onto the street and being on the 6th floor you could see for miles. Everything looked so peaceful to her, people who appeared like dots and cars whose horns were drowned out by the double framed glass, it was all picture no sound. She appeared to be in a different world entirely as she gazed out at the world in front of her but in actual fact it wasn't a different world she was in, it was a different state. Although her body was in New York her head was in Alabama, Bluebell to be exact. She fiddled with the chain around her neck as she thought about home, yeah that's right Bluebell was her home not New York and even if she wasn't ready to admit it to herself it was the truth.

"Dr. Hart…" A voice said from the nurse's station behind her but Zoe was unresponsive, her eyes still staring into space. "Dr. Hart..." the voice said in a more demanding tone before eventually coming up behind her and taping her on the shoulder. Zoe jumped at the force of the poke on her shoulder blade as she swung around to see the short yet stocky nurse looking at her with some concern.

"Dr. Hart are you alright? You look like you're in a different place entirely."

Zoe shook her head and painted a fake smile on her face "I'm fine…"

"It's this heat isn't it? Lordy me I am dying!"

"Huh?" Zoe asked still not fully paying attention to what the nurse was saying.

"This heatwave, one of the girls said it got up to 102 when they were coming into work this morning and I personally am dying! I cannot wait to get out of these scrubs."

Zoe let out a little laugh however fake it sounded "I guess I never really noticed we used to get heat way worse than this back in-" she came to a sudden halt, she couldn't even uttered the word Bluebell without getting a pain in her stomach. The nurse waited in anticipation for her to finish her sentence but Zoe never did instead she smiled and excused herself before scurrying down the wards and into the on-call room where she locked the door behind her and threw herself onto the bed in a heap. She felt like crap, she didn't know why she felt like this though, she had a brilliant job and a nice apartment looking out onto Central Park but she couldn't help but feel like she should be back in Bluebell listening to the old ladies gossip and reading Dashes blog, something she had avoided for the past 6 weeks. At first she told herself it would just take time to readjust to hospital life and the city but when she found herself discussing grits and catfish with a patient from Alabama for 40 minutes she soon discovered that maybe she had been running from her feelings for Bluebell a bit, but just Bluebell and no one else, that she was determined of.

"Just take a moment Zoe" she said to herself "just shake it off and lets get back to work, the job you love, the job you want." She let out a long sigh as she looked around the room, in complete darkness and that unusual yet slightly comforting smell of cologne and sweat. It was the only place in the hospital where she could truly be herself and not the fake have-it-all-together Zoe that the rest of the hospital knew her as. She could also talk to herself here and at times she needed to have a long convincing talk with herself that this is what she wanted. She rested her head against the pillow for a few minutes before sitting up and reaching into her coat pocket and pulling out her phone, to her surprise she saw she had a missed call which came as a shock to her but a welcomed one, it wasn't who she hoped though and was left slightly disappointed when she saw it was from Annabeth. It wasn't that she didn't miss Annabeth or anything but she was still holding out hope for someone else.

"_Hey__ Zoe…"_ Annabeth said in the voicemail as her voice trailed off, her sweet southern accent brought a smile to Zoe's face, a real one. _"I know you are probably super-duper busy with that fancy new job of yours but well Lavon is at work and Lemon is busy with the Rammer Jammer so I thought maybe I'd call and check in… so yeah call me back when you get this or don't__ whatever,__ but preferably yes because I miss you, okay bye."_

Zoe bit at her lip, trying to keep her emotions intact but it was no use she could feel the tears already and that pain in her stomach returned. She listened to the message twice more and finally worked up the courage to call Annabeth back before her beeper sounded requiring her to leave the safety of the on-call room and back out into the hustle and bustle of hospital life.

….

"Hey cutie…"

Wade shuddered at the sound of that high pitched voice behind him and kept his eyes fixed on the drink he was preparing. Where was Lemon when he needed her?

"How can I help you Carrie…" he said in a very mundane tone as he turned to face her not voluntarily of course but he had to serve someone their drink.

"Oh I think you know the answer to that one already" she said coyly as she dropped him a wink. Wade shuddered as he cleaned his hands with the cloth, how did he ever find this woman the least bit attractive. He didn't even bother wording a response but rather shook his head leaving Carrie less than impressed.

"Oh come on please don't tell me you are still hung up on the Doctor."

"You want another drink cause if not your takin' up space."

Carrie rolled her eyes as Lemon came out from the storeroom and instantly picked up on the conversation.

"You know…" Carrie said as she took a swig of the beer in front of her "…I could have told you at Halloween that it would never work out between you and her, I am still surprised she gave you the time of day never mind-"

Lemon gasped and before she knew it she was standing beside Wade in full fledge support of him and Zoe but she tried to tell herself she wasn't defending the woman who had annihilated her business partners heart.

"Carrie don't you have some slut duties you need to attend to?" Wade kept his head down as Carrie struggled to respond to Lemon's bitchy yet needed comment. All she could do was scoff before peeling away from the bar and eyeing up her next victim.

Lemon gave a smile of satisfaction as Wade looked over at her with those puppy dog eyes. She rolled her eyes "You know one of these days you are going to have to turn a woman away yourself or better yet take her home."

Wade winced at the thought of such a thing, he didn't need to say it for Lemon to know his reasons for turning down so many women, she knew it was because of Zoe and how he had told her he loved her, even if no one else knew he said it she did and that was enough for her to realise his latest monk-like behaviour was simply him being loyal to Zoe even though there was no Zoe.

Lemon sighed, she wanted to help Wade, to really help him get over Zoe but so far nothing was working. He was a closed book and she did not need him bringing down the apparent positive mood surrounding the Rammer Jammer in the recent weeks.

"Why don't you just head home, we're not that busy."

Wade rolled his eyes; he didn't think he was being that much of a mope that Lemon was actually going to dismiss him.

"Lemon, I'm fine."

"No you are not, just go home and drink beer or play that stupid Z-Box or whatever its called."

Wade scoffed, he appreciated Lemon trying to cheer him up and she was right, he needed a night off. He had put all his energy from the past 6 weeks into his work and although it distracted him it wasn't healing him. He dropped what he was doing and made his way out of the bar passing Dash and his tape recorder on his way out. Carrie watched as he left the bar and saw this as her opportunity to finally nab herself some Wade. Lemon was busy with Wanda to notice Carrie scurry out of the bar but Dash took note as he smiled to himself.

…

The following day after a long 14 hour shift all Zoe wanted to do was soak in a warm bath with a bottle of wine but of course the warm water was out and the bottle of wine slipped from her grip as she was opening it and smashed everywhere so she gave up the ghost and found herself sitting on her bed with her phone looking up at her. All signs were telling her that she should call Annabeth but she was scared, she just left without saying goodbye and she hurt a lot of people in the process. Maybe it was just best to stay away and let her bad decisions be her punishment from walking away from Bluebell and certain people in it.

She followed her gut though and decided to ring Annabeth but when she got no answer she decided to call Lavon's home phone because if she knew Annabeth her phone was probably under a couch cushion or in a coat pocket. It rang out for a moment before someone picked up it wasn't Lavon and it certainly wasn't Annabeth which meant it could only be one person…

"Yeah…" Wade answered not really paying attention as he had his head dug deep into the fridge looking for something to eat, there was silence on the other end of the line so he asked again "Hello?"

At first Zoe thought that she was imagining things but once he spoke for the second time she knew it was him, it was really him.

"Hi…" she said timidly as she grabbed at her bed covers for support.

"Uh…hi" Wade just about got the words out of his mouth he was in that much shock, to hear her small voice on the other end of the line was like music to his ears. He moved away from the fridge and leaned against the counter all while keeping the phone glued to his ear even if they hadn't spoken to each other he just needed to hear her breathe, to know she was still there.

"Lavon isn't home…if that's who you were hopin' to catch." He tried to play it cool but Zoe could tell he was nervous.

"I was actually hoping to talk to Annabeth but its good to hear your voice…" she admitted in hope that he would be smiling down the other end of the line which he was.

"It's good to hear your voice too."

Wade smiled to himself, he would've been happy just sitting in silence with her on the other line but he decided it was best to at least make an effort to make conversation "So how's New York?"

"It's good." She lied, why did she lie? "How's Bluebell?"

"Same old same old. It's weird not havin' you around, although things are a lot quieter."

Zoe gasped as she let out a little giggle "Hey now you are just as noisy as I am but you get away with it because you walk around without a shirt on."

"Oh so you did pick up on that..." Wade said sneakily as Zoe was left speechless, she hadn't had banter like that with him in months and it felt more than amazing, for both of them. Wade looked down at the counter, he was torn because much as he enjoyed the free flowing banter between them there was also a massive elephant in the room and he needed to address it whether it was to get a taste of where she was feelings-wise or if it was the push he needed to move on for good.

"Look Zoe…" He said as his tone changed to a more serious sound. Zoe knew exactly what he was going to say and she didn't want to hear it, she didn't want all those painful memories back not when things seemed to be civil between them. She had to get out of it, she had to stop him.

"Wade I'm sorry to interrupt but my mom just arrived so I'm gonna have to go, bye." She immediately hung up the phone and tossed it onto the end of the bed before letting out a painful sigh, this was exactly why she had gone to New York, Wade. He was the reason she was running, she couldn't face him and her feelings for him, it was too painful.

Her conversation with Wade left her more than curious as to what exactly had been going on in Bluebell because she knew Wade was lying when he said nothing had changed, something must've happened, she wasn't the only source of drama in that town. Too afraid to try the phone again to make contact with Annabeth she decided to check out Dashes blog, she hadn't been on it in months and she hoped that given the time that had passed she wouldn't be the main article. It took a while to load but once it did the headline caught her like a fish to a hook _"Wade Kinsella spotted leaving the Rammer Jammer with Carrie closely behind, is this the curtain finally closing on Zade?"_

Zoe's jaw dropped as she read the headline again just to make sure she wasn't seeing things unfortunately for her it was real, in big bold letters it was there, Wade had moved on and what was worse was that he wasn't going to talk to her about his 'I love you' he was going to tell her that he had found someone else. She slammed the laptop shut as she looked around the room in a fluster suddenly that pain in her stomach was back, what had she done? How could she had gone so long without talking to him, not necessarily about her feelings but just in general, to let him know she hadn't forgotten about him, that it was the complete opposite in fact. She had to fix this, she had to do something and do it fast….

….

**So yeah, there it is, let me know what you thought! Thanks (: **


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for the delay!**

…**.**

Zoe poured another sachet of sugar into her paper cup of coffee while resting against the countertop at the nurse's station. Rubbing her hand across her face in an attempt to waken herself up but it was no use. She knew she shouldn't have stayed up so late stalking Dashes blog for more info on Wade and Carrie but she couldn't help herself, she had to know and before she knew it her alarm had sounded and it was time for work. She then decided that pre-rounds was the perfect time to call Lavon and quiz him about Wades new romance but unfortunately she only got his answering machine. She had driven herself to the point of insanity thinking about what could have possibly led to Wade moving on and onto Carrie of all people. She couldn't even bring herself to think about him being intimate with her; it brought back too many painful memories.

"Here are those labs you ordered…" A young nurse said as he placed a file in front of her. Zoe looked down at the file and then back at the nurse, he was cute. She was able to admit that much, with black hair with a splash of gel ran through it he had a certain charm about him but that was as far as it went for Zoe which frustrated her. How was it that Wade could confess his love and then move on but she still couldn't look at another man without feeling like she was betraying Wade or should she dare say cheating…

"I didn't order these…" She said handing them back, still in a daze.

The nurse looked down at her with a confused look on his face "Uh yeah you did, like a half hour ago and they told me that I would find Dr. Hart on the 6th floor…" he looked above their heads at the nurses station to read the sign nailed to the wall "… and this is the 6th floor and you are Dr. Hart." He pointed at her name tag and smiled before pushing the files back towards her.

Zoe scoffed at herself, how did she even make it into work in this state? "I'm sorry I completely forgot. Thank you."

The nurse smiled as he nodded "No problem…" he couldn't help but walk away when he saw how sad she looked and decided it would be rude not to see if she was alright.

"Dr. Hart, are you okay?"

Zoe tried to pass it off as tiredness but she couldn't, she had too many emotions and a big mouth. "You're a guy, right?"

The nurse scoffed "Hey look men can be nurses too and good ones at that-"

Zoe giggled "No I did mean like that, at all."

The nurse dropped his head feeling slightly embarrassed "Oh… sorry, what did you mean so?"

Zoe composed herself "When you're taking a girl home say from like a bar or whatever do you walk out with her or like a few steps ahead of her?"

"Excuse me?"

"You know when you're out and you see a pretty girl and you're like 'oh she's pretty' you go talk to her and then next thing you know you're both heading out the door, but…" she moved closer to him "… do you walk in front of her or beside her?"

The nurse cleared his throat "Uh I, I don't know, I never really thought about it, in front of her I guess. Why?"

Zoe scoffed "Nothing, never mind. Sorry to bother you, you probably have loads to do. So I'll just see you ." She grabbed the file and moved away from the countertop but soon heard the nurse call after her. She swung back around as he stood awkwardly in front of her.

"Do you think maybe you'd like to have dinner with me tonight?"

Zoe's eyes widened, she didn't expect that, not in the least as she smiled. If Wade could move on then why couldn't she?

"Yes I would love to…"

"Uh David, my name's David." He held his hand out as she shook it gracefully "Zoe… Zoe Hart."

"Well Zoe Hart, do you think that I could meet out front at like 8? I get off at 7."

"And I get off at 7:15" She smiled sincerely at him before he nodded his head and walked past her. Zoe sighed as she watched him walk away, a part of her was happy. David was cute and funny and clearly saw something in her but another part, a big part felt weird mostly because no matter how much funny and cute was thrown her way it wasn't half of what Wade meant to her, but Wade had moved on so now maybe she could give it a go.

….

"_When you're ex- boyfriend moves on to another woman it is the best friends duty to inform the ex-girlfriend before she has to read it on Dashes Blog!"_

"Zoe Hart is that you?" Lavon asked as he held the phone against his ear despite the noisy background.

Zoe rolled her eyes _"No Lavon its Zooey Deschanel… of course it's Zoe Hart! Who else would it be?"_

Lavon stuttered "Well Lavon Hayes forgot he had a friend called Zoe Hart…"

"_Lavon you can grill me about that some other time but right now I need you tell to me about Wade and that slut!"_

"Slut?"

"_Slut, Carrie, what's the difference…"_

"Carrie?" Lavon asked feeling slightly confused "You mean that woman from Halloween?"

"_Yes, and also the woman who Wade slept with the other night. How could you not tell me Lavon!"_

Lavon stepped outside of the Rammer Jammer leaving the noise behind him "Zoe, I really don't know what you're talkin' about. Wade hasn't been with anyone since you left town. At least not that I know of and he would have told me."

"_Well then why is the big talking point on Dashes blog all about Wade leaving the bar with her the other night!"_ Zoe shouted down the phone line before becoming aware of her surroundings and taking it down a level.

Lavon smiled "Why does it bother you so much if it's true?"

Zoe paused _"It doesn't bother me. I'm just curious, you know trying to keep in touch with the small town charm and all that's happening_."

"That's a pile of crap. You're jealous aren't you?"

Zoe bit her lip, she didn't want to say the words, she couldn't _"I just need to know…"_ she said quietly.

Lavon sighed, he knew he was never going to get a confession out of her so the least he could do was take her out of her misery "No. He didn't sleep with her."

Zoe let out a sigh of relief _"He didn't? Really?"_

"Really… She just followed him out and Dash took it as, well what you thought."

Zoe smiled to herself completely forgetting where she was and let the thought of Wade not being with Carrie settle in her mind.

"Zoe…" Lavon said snapping her out of her trance.

"_Yeah?"_

"Did you really think Wade would move on that quickly? Or at all?"

Zoe sighed, she didn't know what to think. She didn't want Wade to sit around pining for her but she also hated the idea of him being with anyone else. Lavon took her moment of silence as a sign of her confusion.

"Look Z, I know what Wade did was awful and that it will probably take you a long time to get over it and maybe you bein' in New York is the best thing for you but you gotta know, Wade is so in love with you and that if you havin' a conversation with him over the phone means there is the slightest chance of you givin' him another chance he'll take it."

"_I want to forgive him…"_ Zoe said in a small and vulnerable voice.

"Well then tell him that instead of makin' him think that he's done somethin' wrong."

Zoe smiled _"I will. Lavon thank you, I don't know what I would do without you. I'll call you tomorrow."_

….

Zoe walked back into the living room with her head hanging; she toyed with the idea of ringing Wade there and then but figured it would be best to leave it til the morning when she was at least somewhat awake.

"Is everything okay?" A voice said from the kitchen as Zoe shook her head completely forgetting she had company. She walked back into the kitchen to see David sitting at the table with a glass of wine in front of him. Suddenly Zoe felt awful, there Wade was turning women down and she was going on dates with male nurses.

"Yeah, sorry it took so long." She said in a very unconvincing tone.

"Don't worry about it. So tell me, how is it that such a talented Doctor like you is only now doing her fellowship?"

Zoe paused, all she could think about was Bluebell "I spent some time in Alabama working as a GP but once this opportunity arose I couldn't say no."

"Alabama? Well how did you end up there?"

Zoe smiled, she liked David just not enough to let him in on the story that was her life in Bluebell "It's a very long story trust me, but the main thing is that I'm back now."

"Couldn't hack the small town life?"

"More like the people" she joked trying to convince herself yet again that she had made the right decision. However not matter how much she tried to clear her mind of Bluebell and that people in it she couldn't. She looked over at David, oblivious to her conflicted feelings and smiled. She couldn't continue this night, her heart had just too much of a say.

"Look David, you're really nice and I'm sure we would have a really great time together but- there is this other guy who I just can't seem to-"

"Hey say no more." David said as he rose to his feet and put on his jacket "For what it's worth, I had a really nice time with you."

Zoe smiled as she led him to the door and as she pulled it open he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, Zoe didn't pull away right away but once she felt his hand on her waist she jumped as her eyes caught on to the fact that they were not alone. She looked out into the hallway to see a familiar face. His hair ruffled and a scruffy beard painted around his mouth he stood there vulnerable and slightly embarrassed. Zoe looked him up and down, he looked the same yet different. His eyes beaming out at her filled with shock and dismay. She stepped away from David who stood there awkwardly.

Why was he here, in New York?

She looked over at David and then back at Wade, what had she just done?

…

**So sorry it took so long I've had school and other stuff going on but nevertheless I hope you enjoyed it ! And please let me know what you thought, thanks!**


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